Organizing doll clothes

September 18, 2012

I love to find unique, fun ways to make things for my dolls. My dad had some cardboard boxes laying around in our garage, so I thought it would be fun to give one of the boxes a new use!

Mia and I were going to turn it into...a doll closet! My dolls have lots of clothes but not many places to store them. We were so excited to tackle this project!

The supplies I started with were:

Cardboard Box (18.5 inches tall by 10.5 inches wide.)

Scissors

Foam brushes

Acrylic Paint

Paper Plate

Wooden Dowels (1.5 by 12 inche size, but I was going to use them for later)

I first cut off the bottom and top flaps of the box to get them out of the way. :)

Then I started painting! I chose to go with white so I could easily put on pretty decorations.

After I painted the first coat I had to wait an hour for it to dry, and then I did about three more coats. It took some patience, but was well worth it!

See? Doesn't it look so different?! I was ready to get decorating!

For decorating I used some $1.99 stencils I got at Hobby Lobby, spongy stencil brushes, and Martha Stewart Gloss and Glitter Paint that was on sale at Michaels Craft Store. (You could also use anykind of colorful stickers to decorate too!)

I carefully sponged on the stencils...

I think they turned out amazing, and it was so much fun!!

As I waited for the paint to dry, I pulled out some glass beads I found at Hobby Lobby.

I thought they would make great doorknobs for the closet.

Using a hotglue gun I glued two of the beads together to form the knob. Then I glued it onto the box!

I loved them! Now that the paint was dry, it was time for me to do the final step to make the closet. I needed to put in the clothes rack.

I marked a hole 2 inches from the top of the box. Using a 1 and half inch by 12 inch wooden dowel, with my mom's help we poked it through the box and pushed it to the other side. There was an extra half inch of dowel sticking out of the box, so with my mom's help we cut off the excess.

Then we were finished!!

Mia was so excited to organize her favorite outfits in the closet!

Lots of clothes to choose from!

I was extremely happy with how it turned out, and my dolls LOVE it! It doesn't even look like a cardboard box anymore! Remember that you can recycle things (like boxes) to make beautiful items for your doll!

My dolls can't wait to use their closet everyday. If you make a closet for your doll, or do any other creative doll project, I'd love to see it! Feel free to send me a picture at email@americangirlfan.com

May 31, 2012

In the beginning of the month I told you about our Extreme Doll Clothes Makeover, that Hope and I were going to combine our doll stuff together into one big bin. I'm so excited to show you the results! It took me about three days to clean it all up, but I love it now!

Just to refresh your memory here's the before picture...

...And...

...After! Kit's very relieved it's all finished!

Here's a little tour of how I organized each bin:

The smaller bin on top holds accessories and some odds and ends...

And, then I also stored my doll hair supplies and doll jewelry in recipe boxes!

One of my friends gave them to me a while back, and I wanted to put them to good use. I've seen other ones like them before at Michaels Craft Store for $1. They are really useful. :)

Now, onto the bigger bin! On the top shelf I put all of our Historical doll clothes.

The middle shelf I put all of our MyAG American Girl clothes.

And, the bottom shelf I put all of our Non-American Girl clothes and a few bigger accessories, like the doll guitar.

To store all of our doll shoes (our dolls are shoe fanatics!), I reused this flexible bin my Aunt and Uncle gave me for Easter. It makes a good seat too, I guess. haha ;)

Kit and I hope you enjoyed a quick peek at how we store our AG stuff! I'd love to know how you organize too, where/how do you store your doll stuff and doll(s)?

May 07, 2012

I thought it would be fun to let you all in on a doll project that I'm going to be doing for a few days! Well, first I've got to tell you that last week Hope and I decided on combining our doll stuff. We were keeping them seperate, organized in our own rooms, but since we continually borrow each others things we thought this would be much easier.

So...we're having our own Extreme Doll Clothes Makeover!

I bought a new large 3 section bin, that (with Kit's help!) I'm going to move all our doll stuff into. (You can check out how I first used to store my doll clothing at this link, HERE.)

Kit's ready to tackle the makeover! Just don't tell Cécile that she's using her dainty white gloves to clean with. hehe

Wish us luck on this! I have a feeling my room is going to get very messy in the process. Once everything is cleaned up, I'll be sure to share the after pictures! :)

Have you and your doll(s) been doing anything lately? I'd love to know!